Public sector pension funds in the Highlands and Orkney are facing calls to disinvest their multi-million-pound holdings in a sanction-hit Russian bank.
The local government pension scheme for the Highland Council area has a £4.4 million investment in Sberbank.
Only Strathclyde is believed to have a larger holding among the Scottish pension funds with links to Russia’s biggest lender, which is majority owned by Vladimir Putin’s government.
Recent figures show Strathclyde had investments with a value of £16.4m, while Tayside had £3.42m, Lothian had £1.33m and Orkney had £1.24m.
The Highland fund also has £1.33m worth of holdings in Russian internet company VK, previously known as Mail.ru Group, which controls the three biggest social networking sites in Russia.
Highland Council, which administers the fund in the area, said it was unable to comment on Monday.
Tayside confirmed its holding in Sberbank was being “actively reviewed” by the fund’s investment manager, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last week.
‘Crucial moment in history’
Scottish Labour external affairs spokeswoman Sarah Boyack said: “At this crucial moment in history we need to stand firm and be unequivocal in our efforts to stamp out the influence of Russian finance in the UK.
“Pension funds must break these ties and divest as a matter of urgency.”
Sberbank’s European subsidiaries were facing failure on Monday with a run on deposits and sanctions imposed by western powers in response to the attack.
The local government pension fund investments emerged just a day after an investigation showed that the Scottish Parliamentary Pension Scheme has holdings worth £299,571 in Sberbank.
The Local Government Pension Scheme in Scotland holds assets worth more than £45 billion.
It serves more than 236,000 active members, more than 140,000 deferred members and more than 169,000 pensioners and dependents.
The Highland fund is available to workers from more than 30 organisations, including the Highland Council and local colleges.
Meanwhile, Holyrood presiding officer Alison Johnson announced she had written to the Scottish Parliamentary Pension Scheme (SPPS) trustees, asking them to disinvest all Russian shareholdings.
Pauline McNeill MSP, chairwoman of the trustees, in turn wrote to fund managers Baillie Gifford to request that it divests immediately from Sberbank and all other Russian companies.
In light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I have written to the Trustees of the Parliament’s pension scheme urging that all Russian shareholdings are divested immediately.
You can read my letter in full at https://t.co/dpzQTy2uds pic.twitter.com/E2nqHdoaJI
— Alison Johnstone (@POScotParl) February 28, 2022
MSPs had been demanding action.
Green MSP Ross Greer said: “I cannot fathom why the Scottish Parliament Pension Fund has holdings in Sberbank in the first place.
“But, in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine it is clearly inappropriate for that to remain the case.
“Some trustees of the fund have resisted ethical investment policies for too long but I’m sure most MSPs and former MSPs will want this urgently addressed and Sberbank immediately divested from.”
The trustees agreed in March 2021 that all future pensions contributions would be invested in a sustainable, ethical fund.
Tory minister Jacob Rees-Mogg’s investment firm previously had shares in Sberbank worth £44.5 million, but they were sold off as the Ukraine crisis ramped up.
A Scottish Parliament spokesman said earlier: “The trustees agreed in March 2021 all future pensions contributions would be invested in a sustainable, ethical fund that excludes companies that contravene UN principles on human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption.
“The SPPS invests in pooled funds with Baillie Gifford. It is one of a number of investors in the funds, therefore beyond these ethical conditions, the trustees cannot direct Baillie Gifford in their investment strategy.”